NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings: Kyle Larson advances, Ryan Blaney disqualified

The first race in the NASCAR Playoff Round of 8 has shaken up the standings. Kyle Larson on top, Ryan Blaney on the bottom. This race at Las Vegas was another exciting intermediate track that this Next Gen car loves so much. It provided great racing.

While it was obvious that Kyle Larson had one of the top two cars in the field, that doesn’t always equal a win. However, Larson took his car and swept the stages and won the South Point 400. He advances to the Championship 4 while others will have to wait to earn their way in.

As for Ryan Blaney, he found himself disqualified after his left front shock didn’t meet length requirements. At best, it is likely something came loose or went wrong with the shock between pre-race inspection and post-race, changing the length of the part. At worst, Team Penske tried to get away with something here.

We still don’t know if Team Penske is going to appeal. If they do, it will be an expedited process. For now, Blaney suffers in the NASCAR Playoff standings because of it.

NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings:
Kyle Larson – W
William Byron – 4079
Denny Hamlin – 4072
Martin Truex Jr. 4071
————————
Christopher Bell – 4068
Tyler Reddick – 4056
Chris Buescher – 4048
Ryan Blaney – 4015

The big story is definitely the fact that Ryan Blaney is now 56 points below the cutline. Homestead-Miami or Martinsville will have to be a win for Blaney if he hopes to advance to the Championship 4.

NASCAR Playoff standings after Las Vegas

The Las Vegas race now sets us up for two more great venues and hopefully, great races. Homestead-Miami has put on some great races in the past few years. The Next Gen is great on these tracks.

After Vegas, there are some drivers that have to change things up. Of course, Blaney. His position is obvious and so we won’t spend much time on him.

However, Martin Truex Jr. made another mistake. Or his crew chief did. They stayed out after Stage 1 while everyone else went to pit. It cost them in a major way and made Sunday an uphill battle. Top-10 for the first time in these playoffs, Truex has to continue to improve. Denny Hamlin also had a disappointing weekend.

Tyler Reddick has to be looking at Homestead as his ticket to Phoenix after faltering in this race. He was never really in contention for the win, but P7 is solid. Chris Buescher is another driver who didn’t have a great weekend. No stage points, just 27 total on the day for his finish – it will be difficult for Buescher to make it to Phoenix at this point.

Next week, I’ve got my eyes on Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell once again. Bell came up short, but he’s going to be right there for the next two races.

The NASCAR Playoff standings have Larson into Phoenix already. However, he expressed he wanted to dominate at Miami next week. In 2021 when Larson won the championship, he won three races in a row at one point and four of the final five. Could we be heading for a similar performance?